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Friday, October 24, 2014

Hams Ready for CQ Contest this weekend

It is almost time for the CQ WW SSB DX Contest which kicks off on Saturday, October 25 at 0000 UTC and runs until Sunday, October 26 at 2359 UTC.

I fully plan to be in the contest this year looking for new countries to add to my DXCC totals. Might even work a state or two I need to finish off the ARRL Triple Play award I have been working on.

I also plan to have a presence during the CQ WW CW DX contest that starts on

Saturday, November 29 at 0000 UTC and concludes on Sunday, November 30 at 2359 UTC. I hope to finish out the countries I need for an ARRL CW DXCC award.

These are two of my favorite contest and are a lot of fun to participate in at any level. Several years ago I won 1st place in my category, but since I am on a country hunt, I won't be submitting a contest log for these two amateur radio contest.

CQ Communications has reconsidered its initial policy on stations operating in Crimea for the CQ World Wide contest. Logs will be accepted and counted for the country indicated by the call sign of the station. This aligns CQ policy with DXCC policy. See the CQ website for complete details.

On a related topic, found this that was posted to the ARRL website on 17 Oct 2014:--

CQ WILL NOT ACCEPT LOGS FROM STATIONS IN CRIMEA USING RUSSIAN-ISSUED CALL SIGNS

CQ has announced that it will no longer accept logs for any CQ-sponsored contest from stations in Crimea operating with Russian-issued call signs. CQ Magazine said that “after considerable deliberation,” it has decided to follow the lead of the US government and the United Nations and will consider the embattled Crimea region to be a part of Ukraine, “until such time as the political situation there is resolved.” In addition, contacts made by others with Crimean stations using Russian-Issued call signs will be removed from contestants’ logs without penalty. “No contact or multiplier credits will be given,” the CQ announcement said.

“We fully realize that our action may very well disenfranchise several Crimean contesters who use Russian prefixes instead of Ukrainian prefixes,” CQ said. “As regrettable as that may be, our action is consistent with international law, as well as with our own rules.”CQsponsors several major international operating events, including the CQ World Wide SSB and CW contests. The first contest to be affected by the new policy would be the CQ World Wide SSB Contest, which takes place this year over the October 25-26 weekend.